Liverpool holds talks with Middle East consortiums ahead of potential sale

English giants Liverpool is one of the two top-tier English football clubs on sale alongside fierce rival Manchester United. Having owned The Reds since 2010, the club has witnessed significant success lately, including the English Premier League (EPL), UEFA Champions League (UCL) and FIFA Club World Cup title triumphs. Having owned the club for around £300 million back then, the club is now valued at £3 billion. While quite a few suitable investors are willing to bid for the club, the club and its owners have reportedly held talks with a couple of Middle East-based consortiums, mainly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

According to the Mail on Sunday, the consortiums' leaders have contacted FSG director Mike Gordon, expressing their interest in officially registering their bids. While the consortiums are supposedly private firms, they have close ties with Qatar and Saudi Arabia's ruling families. The sale of Liverpool and United to the Middle Eastern consortiums would allow them the spending power like Manchester City (Abu Dhabi United Group) and Newcastle United (Public Investment Fund).

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Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal (Saudi's sports minister) encouraged the takeover bid of both clubs and said, "From the private sector, I can't speak on their behalf, but there is a lot of interest and appetite, and there's a lot of passion about football. We will support it if any [Saudi] private sector comes in because we know that will reflect positively on sports within the kingdom." While the Reds are also in talks with a US-based buyer, the Red Devils have been linked to Apple and Britain's richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.